Discussion

2 Great Meals 1 Miss

This weekend I had a couple great meals and wanted to share, and had one inexplicable miss.

Friday night I went to Ta Ta's Asian Bistro in Henderson. Amazing. We sat at the sushi bar (I guess they do a hibachi meal or standard chinese type food as well). We started off on a so/so note with miso soup that was just like you would find this anyplace. What was to come was so amazing, I think they should come up with a different soup, or even skip it all together (heresy I know!). We got an order of spicy scallops (sweet, cooked to perfection!), and an Aloha Tuna salad. The salad was huge and over the top yummy. The flavors were rich and well developed and the fish was perfect (coming from RI I had reservations!). As the chef got a sense of what we liked he started making us other things. Not even sure what they are but he had no misses in there. At one point he served us Salmon collars (not even on the menu) and they were wonderful. The final touch was his dessert suggestion.. Roe with a quails egg (raw). My SO is slightly more adventurous than I am, and reported that this was sublime. The staff there was super friendly and the food was well above average. Total dinner bill for 2 was about 65 and we were rolling out of the place. I will definitely visit again!

Breakfast the next morning was at DuPar's (in the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino). Esquire Magazine has said that they make the best pancakes in the US. I think they need to get out more. Not to say that there was anything wrong with them. But best? Nah. The same as could be found at lots of good places across the country, but for a lot less money. SO and I got the special, and had orange juice (fresh squeezed was a nice touch) and hot chocolate and somehow this perfectly average breakfast cost us around 35 dollars without a tip. I went to their website just now because I was having a brain block on which casino it was in and the site has the August pie of the month up. I guess this is a fitting metaphor. It just seemed like the details were missing. The syrup was warm (thank heavens) but apart from that, there was just nothing special about the experience. I would go back if friends wanted to try it or something but I cannot imagine doing it on my own. On a weird side note, we ended up waiting for a valet who was no where to be found for 5 minutes and when he reappeared he was running from somewhere down the street (and the lot and my car were all right there). I wanted to be wowed at this place and maybe my expectations were too high but in the end, they were just "Meh".

Now with expectations, my late lunch was the exact opposite experience. I was at the Galleria in Henderson and lunchtime found me at the food court (I know I know I am loosing all my street cred!) and thought I would give Kyklos Greek Cafe a try. I am so happy I did. The guy at the register could tell I was an out of towner (I don't have an accent they do!) and promptly got me a sample of the marinated chicken. It was so good I changed my order! I ended up with a combo plate. It was essentially a gyro deconstructed (both lamb and chicken for me!) and rice pilaf. The pilaf was completely average and I do not think I would get it again, but the deconstructed gyro was likely the best I ever had (and I am counting fully constructed gyro's in that statement as well! :D ). What made it so great was the tzatziki sauce. I complimented the guy in charge and he told me it is an old family recipe. Seriously wonderful stuff. I got it with a greek salad (ask for the extra olives) and a bottle of water and paid 16 which is a little high for lunch in my book, but seriously, it was so good I left with a huge smile on my face. I anticipate leaving lots of money here in the future.

Thanks for those local reviews. We tried Kylkos for the first time on our May trip and really enjoyed our gyro, but the baklava was bone dry. In response to my post on yelp, one of the co-owners indicated they were going to change the recipe (his mother's) and invited us back.